FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT QUEEN IDA - PAGE 2

Even royalty needs a rest once in a while. Queen Ida Guillory, who rules the musical carnival known as the Bontemps Zydeco Band, has her plate full playing and writing. There's her "Cookin` With the Queen" cookbook that features Creole recipes and anecdotes. Queen Ida the musician nonetheless finds time to dish up her jumping blend of zydeco, country, reggae, polka, rock and blues. She said a health scare that forced a cancellation of a July 4 concert last year in Colorado and her new responsibilities as an author have forced her to be more selective about her engagements.

She`d just finished up lunch the other day-a big bowl of gumbo, to be exact-when we got to talking to Queen Ida Guillory, the Grammy-winning, accordion-playing zydeco star. So although we`d called to talk about the music she's bringing to Keenan O`Malley's on West Roscoe this evening, the conversation began with food and, more specifically, the cookbook she's got coming out in October. Called "Cooking with Queen Ida," it just happens to also be the name of her last album. "Besides gumbo, the cookbook will have some memoirs and recipes for jambalaya, boudin, dressing, yams and the like," explained Ida, via telephone from her home near San Francisco.

Various Cajun Alligator Stomp: Cajun & Zydeco Classics (Rhino) (STAR)(STAR)(STAR) Looking for a good introduction to contemporary Cajun and zydeco sounds? This lively sampler of mostly uptempo Louisiana roots music fills the bill nicely and showcases the music's many stylistic permutations. Among those performing well-known Cajun and zydeco songs are the late, great zydeco king, Clifton Chenier; Queen Ida Guillory, zydeco's sole female bandleader, and her Zydeco Band; the soulful Jo-El Sonnier, whose influences include country and pop as well as Cajun; Cajun dance band Beausoleil; veteran Cajun singer-songwriter D.L. Menard and the Louisiana Aces; and Rockin` Sidney Simien, whose regional hit, "My Toot-Toot," propelled him into the country-pop spotlight a few years ago. The CD version of the anthology contains four bonus tracks by Chenier, Queen Ida, Sonnier, and Lake Charles, La., bandleader Wilson "Boozoo" Chavis.

ClubLand's Steve Jarvis, a 29-year-old kid at heart, is munching on gooey cinnamon rolls and detailing his cross-country adventures spent poking around musty theaters aching to be revived. "I spent a lot of time crawling around with a flashlight," he says of his treasure hunts. "I looked for theaters that I could renovate without going broke." His searches for theaters-as well as for investors in the concept he helped create in Chicago-have been hugely successful: a Houston ClubLand opened in the Tower Theater last December.

Texas` Fab Four: For too long, the only thing fabulous about the Fabulous Thunderbirds as far as most people were concerned was their name. The Texas group's bluesy, jumpin` brand of roadhouse rock went over big at clubs throughout the country, but their records went nowhere (when they could get signed to a label, that is). That, of course, was before they emerged as one of the "overnight" success stories of 1986, thanks to their hit album, "Tuff Enuff," and its similarly successful title track.

If you think of glass as a clear, colorless solid used to hold liquids, think again. Contemporary glass is not necessarily clear or colorless, nor is it necessarily strong enough to hold much of anything. Those old-style stereotypes are stunningly shattered by curator Susanne K. Frantz in a beautifully illustrated coffeetable size book "Contemporary Glass" (Harry Abrams Inc., $60). Through 400 photographs from the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, N.Y., Frantz, who is the museum's curator of 20th Century glass, explores the many directions modern artists and craftsmen are taking this ancient material, thus opening the door for consideration of glasswork as fine art and more than fine craftsmanship.

Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural, the genial heart and soul of the Buckwheat Zydeco band, came by his Little Rascals-inspired nickname as a child and grew up immersed in the accordion-fueled combination of black R&B and French lyrical themes that define zydeco. Dural, who was born in 1947, remembers listening to his father playing zydeco accordion in their southwestern Louisiana home. By 9, Buckwheat had gravitated to the keyboards and already was accomplished on organ and piano.

Jim Arey's youth and government class at Elk Grove Village High School took a detour this week to talk about the White House brouhaha. His students, who are preparing for a monthlong program observing local government leaders, spent 40 minutes Monday assessing the players in the President Clinton-Monica Lewinsky affair. Though the 16- and 17-year-olds in his 10 a.m. class cannot vote, a majority said they have little faith in public officials. While studying the Starr report might not help matters, Arey hopes that time students spend with very un-Washington municipal leaders will yield renewed faith in the U.S. political process.

The Irving S. Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, an event based in and around Kalamazoo, Mich., will be expanding into jazz the next time around. The next edition of the festival will run from April 23 to May 1, 1994, and its classical piano lineup will be augmented by several jazz bookings. Specifically, the jazz roster will include pianist Dick Hyman, April 27; a Marsalis family concert-with pianist Ellis, trombonist Delfeayo and drummer Jason-April 30; Ray Charles with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, May 1; and pianists Tommy Flanagan and Sir Roland Hanna in a double-bill, also on May 1. The Gilmore Festival also will offer a folk/new music series, with kalimba artist Samite playing music of Uganda, April 26; Queen Ida and her Zydeco Band, plus Myrick "Freeze" Guillory & Nouveau Zydeco, April 28 and 29; and synthesizer artist Eric Ross, April 29. The Gilmore Festival, which may be best known for igniting the career of pianist David Owen Norris, also will present several of the foremost artists in classical music.

The College of DuPage Arts Center will be rockin' Friday when the Nebraska Theatre Caravan presents the jubilant rock musical based on the Gospel, "Godspell," at 8 p.m. in the Mainstage. The Grammy Award-winning show, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, is suitable for the entire family. It was first performed in 1971 and features such songs as "Day by Day," "Bless the Lord" and "All for the Best." The Nebraska Theatre Caravan is the touring wing of the Omaha Community Playhouse, with 15 members under the direction of Susan Baer and choreography by Kathy Wheeldon.